Sound Design Live

has this happened to you? you put your headphones on at the console and your mix sounds great, but when you take them off it seems like something is missing. or it sounds great at the foh mix position, then you walk ten feet to the right and the whole thing falls apart. the audience feels like something is off, no one is dancing, the promoter is giving you panicked glances from across the room, and the band knows something is off because you can’t get the vocal loud enough before it starts feeding back. there’s something going on between your mixing board and your ears, and you can’t quite put your finger on it, but if you could your day would be going a whole lot better. the solution here is obvious: give everyone headphones. i’m pretty sure the flaming lips did that on a tour. just add e-drums and in-ear monitors and you’re in business. for the rest of us who are not working with the flaming lips, there are a handful of solutions we can look at to improve this situation. maybe it’